In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman expresses women’s struggle in society, and how being cut off from creative processes can eventually lead to insanity. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions. The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others. No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long. There comes John, and I must put this away, -- he hates to have me write a word” (480). This quote’s meaning is prevalent throughout the story and the rest of the themes. The narrator seems to not like the paper, but is helpless to do anything about it. Perkins uses this story to make statements about feminism and individuality. She does this by taking the reader down the steps of one woman’s mental state, and how her mental state becomes characterized by something she is constantly made to look at. Gilman seeks to evoke messages of expression by recording the progression of the woman’s mental “illness” through the state of the wallpaper. The main character, also known as the Protagonist, narrates her own life, but is never named. The reader experiences the inner thoughts of a woman’s mind, yet she remains anonymous, a reflection of her status in society. The narrator expresses her need and love of thriving off of her own imagination, while John attempts to replace it with his rational thinking by forcing he... ... middle of paper ... ...society is limited. Gilman seems to express that the female condition can be fragile. This story is only about the madness of one woman, yet it seems to make a general statement about the condition of all females. The mental illness eventually consumes the narrator as her creativity gets taken away. There are even some clues as to the narrator foreshadowing her own illness. The wallpaper symbolizes this in many ways. One of the way it does this is through the feeling of the narrator feeling “trapped.” After feeling trapped for so long she starts to identify herself with the figure behind the wallpaper. This is a good symbol to present women’s confinement and emotional condition of the time era that Gilman lived in. The story could be Gilman’s way of expressing herself because her own creativity was limited to such a point where she could not find a creative outlet.
These thoughts always seem to be optimistic and minimizing of her symptoms. This reflects the standard view of mental illness in the 19th century, which assumed the condition, was just a temporary state of over expressed emotions within a woman. (Gilman. 956) Gilman herself however, used imagery and symbolism to express her ideas concerning her mental illness and the patriarchal ideals that surrounded them. The yellow wallpaper in the story symbolized Gilman’s state of mind. At first, like her depression, the wallpaper was simply an eye sore. It was not disabling to the room however, made it not as appealing as before. As the story progresses, Gilman forms an obsession with the wallpaper. This represents the declining of her mental state and the obsession she developed with her life conditions. We can see the mental illness is now fixated in her like she is fixated on the wallpaper. The wallpaper’s distracting features controlled her mind like her husband controlled her. She was mostly alone when staring vastly into the wallpaper. She begins to see humanly images in the paper. This becomes her sense of social stimulation that her husband forbids her to have. She becomes disgusted with the wallpaper as she is likely disgusted at her disease for disabling her and her husband for limiting her freedom. The humanly image soon develops into “a woman
The main character (a sort of parallel to Gilman herself) experiences post-partem depression, and at this point in time, there was no knowledge of this condition. It was generally thought that the nervous condition suffered by women after birth was caused by a weak moral/mental state. The narrator's husband, John takes her to an old, gothic house, away from all the care and stress of the world. This is supposed to be for her own good. To get some rest and to heal her "weak" mind, she lies in bed, almost locked in her room, left to stare at this ugly, yellow wallpaper. The ugliness of the wallpaper begins to consume her mind as the room turns more into a prison than a place of healing. The main character's though processes become apparent as the story progresses. When she first talks of the pattern, she only describes the pattern and the color briefly: "I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling, flamboyant pattern committing every artistic sin... The color is repellent, almost revolting..." But the pattern becomes more detailed-- in a sense, she has given the pattern life: "Looked at in one way, each breadth stands alone; the bloated curves and flourishes- a kind of 'debased Romanesque' with delirium tremens- go waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity." As she begins to pay more attention to detail, her mind starts becoming more and more unstable. However, with this deterioration comes her realization of the situation she is in. At the end of the story, it is evident that the woman trapped in the wallpaper represents the main character-- she has started to talk in first person: "'I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, is a first-person narrative written in the style of a journal. It takes place during the nineteenth century and depicts the narrator’s time in a temporary home her husband has taken her to in hopes of providing a place to rest and recover from her “nervous depression”. Throughout the story, the narrator’s “nervous condition” worsens. She begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper in her room to the point of insanity. She imagines a woman trapped within the patterns of the paper and spends her time watching and trying to free her. Gilman uses various literary elements throughout this piece, such as irony and symbolism, to portray it’s central themes of restrictive social norms
During this time period women did not encompass the same rights as their male counterparts, nor where they encouraged to participate in the same activities as they. Gillman describes the yellow wallpaper to the readers as a rationalization of what it means to be a woman during this time period. Women were expected to be child-like and fragile as noted, within the text, “What is it child(Gilman, 1998)?” The color yellow is often associated with sickness; in Gilman’s case her sudden illness refers to oppression. She notes as the story, progresses the wallpaper makes her feel sick. Gilman notes, “I never saw a worse paper in my life,” as a symbol in which refers to the restrictions and norms society places on women. Within her literature she addresses restrictions placed on women. Gilman states, “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.” Meaning, she believed men denying women the right to equality was absurd, and when they did grant women’s freedom it was not equivalent rather a “slap in the face [it knocks] you down and tramples you (Gilman, 1998).” Through her essay she consistently refers to a figure behind the wallpaper. “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out (Gilman, 1998).” Meaning, women during this time period seek to feel free from oppression. The women behind the wallpaper represents the need to speak out, “you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow (Gilman,1998).” Creeping placed significance on the experience of being a woman in regards to, how they should think, feel, act, dress, and express themselves. Gilman notes, “And I 've pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back! " The author used this quote to signify, the woman realized she was
This quote is meaningful because it describes how the narrator’s delusions regarding the yellow wallpaper finally consume her and we as readers, can see that she has now become the wallpaper; moving and creeping alongside the wall as if she has just escaped for inside of it. It is only when the narrator finally becomes one with the women trapped inside of the wallpaper that she is able to see that other women are also forced to creep and harbor themselves behind the redundant patterns of their mundane lives. Perkins uses this pivotal moment in her story to help readers make the connection between the intricate patterns of the yellow wallpaper and the women trapped behind it, to the oppression of women, and her discontent with the domestic role women of that time period were expected to play.
The protagonist of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the visual representation of all the things women have to endure for their freedom of thought. The protagonist is locked away in, what seems to be a psychological prison of her husband’s design. It is clear that the story is from a feminist view. This feminist approach is made clear by: the characterization of John, the writing and thoughts of the protagonist, and the environment that they are place in. If combined, these elements describe the psychological imprisonment of women, and the power that was held by men.
The narrator suffers from mental illness, but she told to be passive of her troubles. Authoritative insight from her husband and family tell her to live a life of domesticity in order to feel better, but the narrator speculates “that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do [her] good” (Gilman). These clashing mindsets showcase the standards of both genders during this time period believing that men are the superior gender and know better than women. As the narrator spends her days being confined in the house, her focus shifts to the wallpaper. In the wallpaper, she observes a woman “trying to climb through,” but ultimately failing to get beyond the pattern (Gilman). This refers to all of the women who were trapped within society and felt that there was no way out of their domestic lives. The narrator is eventually able to free herself from her mind, exemplified when she writes, “there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?” (Gilman). She is finally liberated and can see the whole situation once she is freed. Many women in society were trapped, whether it was due to mental illness or due to being women. In fact, Gilman wrote an article in the October
Women find true happiness in taking care of their families and living a simple and uncomplicated life. “The Yellow Wall-paper” follows the mental deterioration of the female narrator, who recently gave birth. She has been advised to relax, eat healthy and exercise so her health will improve. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper” exposed the danger the antiquated belief had on women in the 19th century. Gilman’s use of the yellow wallpaper illustrates a physical manifestation of the narrators descent into madness as she follows her husband’s and doctor’s advice to rest.
Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells her readers the story of a woman desperate to be free. Gilman’s use of symbolism is nothing short of brilliant in telling the story of a new mother suffering from postpartum depression and fighting her way through societies ideas of what a woman should be. When her husband, John, also known as her physician, tells her nothing is wrong with her mind, at first she believes him because she knows that society tells her she should. However, with her husband’s misdiagnosis, or attempt to keep his wife sane for the sake of their reputation, comes a short journey into madness for his wife, Jane. Jane’s downward spiral, as one may call it, turns out to be not so downward when the reader
SAN MIGULE ARCANGEL The San Miguel Arcangel is unique among the twenty one Spanish missions of California. San Miguel Arcangel was the sixteen of twenty one missions and there by shorten the long distance between the San Antoino and San Luis Obispo missions. In 1806, many of the mission building and all of the supplies destroyed by fire. Mission San Miguel Arcangel is named after Saint Michael the Archargel.
Evidence of Gilman's life experiences can be seen all throughout the story. The main character in the story, a slightly neurotic woman, is married to a prominent physician. This husband refuses to believe anything is wrong with his wife's health simply because her physical health is intact. Thus, he prescribes for his wife nothing more than relaxation and cessation of her writings. This character clearly correlates to the doctor who "treated" Gilman for her nervous breakdown. The description of the room and the wallpaper is clearly crucial to the story as a whole. The room itself is described as large and airy, with windows facing towards a "delicious garden." The wallpaper does not fit the room at all. It is a repulsive, pale yellow color. The description of the wallpaper seems to function metaphorically. The wallpaper becomes much more detailed and much more of a fixture in the main characters life as the story progresses. The wallpaper essentially takes on a life of its own. This progression seems to represent mental illness itself. As mental illness progresses, it becomes much more whole and enveloping. Gilman attempts to represent the depth of mental illness through the wallpaper. For example, the woman in the story comes to the conclusion that there is a woman in the wallpaper behind the pattern.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a very astonishing story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that daringly reaches out to explore the mental state of a woman whose mind eventually begins to be broken down to a state of insanity by the appearance of a creeping woman who is trapped behind a revolting yellow wallpaper. This short story takes a look at the causes of the narrator’s insanity by how she was confined in a house alone, trapped with only her mind and a dull wallpaper; while dealing with depression and consuming strong
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman tells the story of married white upper-class women who is striving to overcome her nervous depression with the aide of her domineering husband, John. To display her discomfort, Gilman relays, “If
The Yellow Wallpaper is not just a short story. It was written from Gilman’s perspective with the purpose of telling people that being confined will only make a person more insane. But there’s got to be someone to blame, right? Well, seeing as Gilman was a feminist, it is only logical to blame the person that put her in the sanitarium, right? There’s a deeper meaning to The Yellow Wallpaper and she used symbolism, setting, and character to help the reader better understand this short piece.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known as the first American writer who has feminist approach. Gilman criticises inequality between male and female during her life, hence it is mostly possible to see the traces of feminist approach in her works. She deals with the struggles and obstacles which women face in patriarchal society. Moreover, Gilman argues that marriages cause the subordination of women, because male is active, whereas female plays a domestic role in the marriage. Gilman also argues that the situation should change; therefore women are only able to accomplish full development of their identities. At this point, The Yellow Wallpaper is a crucial example that shows repressed woman’s awakening. It is a story of a woman who turned into a puppet by taking the pencil for the first time, and realising that she is powerful and free. Furthermore, when we look at Gilman’s life story, we may see that she is in a tight situation between being a hopeless wife and being a willing writer. At this point, when we look at the article “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” which is written by Charlotte Gilman, we may see the writer in a similar situation with the character in the short story. Gilman is also obliged to the rest cure, and the doctor similarly says him "live as domestic a life as far as possible," and "never to touch pen, brush, or pencil again" (Mitchell). The forbidding advice may be source of inspiration to write The Yellow Wallpaper which is highly possible to analyse in the light of feminist approach.